Small Learning Communities for Exploring Big Ideas

“Life-changing.” That’s how Kevin Castro ’17 describes his experience with Concourse, one of MIT’s four freshman learning communities.

That adjective is not merely hyperbole. The son of Mexican immigrants, Castro arrived at MIT with the intention of becoming an engineer. He was particularly interested in orbiting space telescopes and imagined he might work at NASA one day. But joining Concourse as a freshman changed his trajectory. The program allowed him to nurture a long-held passion for history and literature, while completing a major in aeronautics and astronautics and a minor in history. He now plans to pursue a career in academia focused on the history of technology...